Published On: 01.28.25 | 

By: James Spann

James Spann: Warming trend ahead for Alabama; rain returns Thursday night, Friday

FOGGY START: A freezing fog advisory is in effect for much of north and central Alabama early this morning; dense fog has formed in spots, and with temperatures below freezing that could mean some icy spots on bridges. With a sunny sky, temperatures will warm quickly, and we project a high between 55 and 65 degrees across the state this afternoon. Wednesday will be sunny and very pleasant, with highs mostly in the 60s, although some south Alabama communities will reach the low 70s.

Clouds will increase Thursday, and rain will move into the state late Thursday night into Friday. A thunderstorm is possible, but severe storms are not expected due to the lack of surface-based instability. By Friday afternoon rain will be confined to the southeast counties as dry air moves in from the west. The weather will stay mild, with highs between 65 and 72 degrees.

THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: The weather looks excellent, with lots of sunshine Saturday and Sunday and highs mostly in the 60s, but again south Alabama could rise into the low 70s. Lows will be mostly in the 40s.

NEXT WEEK: Spring-like weather continues through the week with highs in the 60s and 70s; global models continue to suggest rain will move back into the state on Friday, Feb. 7. The air will be somewhat unstable by then, but it is way too early to know whether severe storms will be an issue.

ON THIS DATE IN 2014: “Snowmageddon” crippled much of north and central Alabama for several days. It was only about 1 to 2 inches of snow, but temperatures were between 17 and 22 degrees as the snow fell. After initially melting due to warm soil temperatures, we had a flash freeze, putting down a base of ice on all roads, making travel almost impossible. The 1-2 inches of snow basically produced travel conditions you would expect from a crippling ice storm (a long duration of freezing rain).

Cars were left in the middle of highways as people changed from a “get home” mindset to a “survive” mindset. Thousands of kids were stranded in schools, countless adults spent the night in their offices, and some spent more than 20 hours stuck in their vehicles on interstate highways. Families were separated, and this developed into a full-blown civil emergency, a humanitarian disaster.

A civil emergency message was issued by the National Weather Service at the request of the Emergency Management Agency at 11:27 a.m. The night before, while we forecast light snow, we expected “no major travel issues” in the Birmingham metro — a reminder we still have much to learn in impact forecasting.

For more weather news and information from James Spann and his team, visit AlabamaWx.